Category: Self-Improvement

Do you think you are emotionally intelligent? I used to think I was very emotionally intelligent, that is, until I truly learned what being emotionally intelligent is. Emotional intelligence is the ability to be self-aware of your emotions, be able to manage them through self-regulation, the ability to be socially aware of the emotions of others (empathy), and to manage relationships with others through social interaction (Cherry, 2018). This blog will discuss my past and current understanding of each component of emotional intelligence

Self-Awareness

The first component of emotional intelligence is self-awareness. Self-awareness is the ability to knowledge and comprehends one’s emotion and to be able to anticipate emotional reactions before they arise (Mayer 2018). In my early years, I thought to be emotionally self-aware was merely acknowledging what emotions I was feeling. I did not realize that being emotional self-aware also meant comprehending my emotions and being able to anticipate how I would feel.

Self-Regulation

The second component of emotional intelligence is self-regulation. Emotion regulation is the ability to control and manage one’s emotions appropriately (Pogosyan, 2017). Emotions can hijack the mind and create automatic responses, like closing the eyes during a scary movie. However, sometimes a trigger can become so strong that the emotional response hijacks the mind that forces us to act in an irrational manner which we would later regret. This is known as the phenomenon of amygdala hijacking and, in the past, I was very prone to it thinking that my actions were natural therefore justified. Now, I practice mindfulness which allows me to be self-aware and control my emotions minimizing the likelihood of emotional outbursts.

Social Awareness

The third component of emotional intelligence is social awareness. Social awareness is the ability to empathize with others, taking into account social and ethical norms (“Social Awareness,” 2018). Before I truly understood what emotional intelligence was, I thought I had a high degree of emotional intelligence because I got along with a lot of people and had a lot of friends. Then, when I learned about emotional intelligence and the idea of social awareness, I found that in my younger years, I poorly empathized with others because I often avoided situations in which people need a shoulder to cry on because I did not know what to do or say. What I have learned now, is that having lot of friends does not make one emotional intelligent. But being able to be there for others, seeing and feeling things through their perspectives, is what makes a person social aware, thus increasing one’s emotional intelligence.

Relationship Management

The fourth component of emotional intelligence is relationship management. Relationship management is being able to manage social interactions with others successfully (Lelaine, 2015).

It means to be able to behave in ways the foster good relationships and outcome with others. In the past, I used to avoid people with drama. I was not the friend to go to when you go through heartache, stress, and other emotion challenged. I simply avoided the topic or even them. I was too afraid to provide advice and I didn’t want to be in a situation that was awkward or uncomfortable. After learning about emotional intelligence and how relationship management is necessary to developing meaningful relationships, I have overcome my fear of social interaction with regards to discussing emotional challenges with my friends. I have begun to actively empathize with them, taking j to consideration their feeling and accommodating to their needs. This has helped me develop more meaningful relationships and now my family and friends are closer to me more than ever.

Conclusion

Developing each component of emotional intelligence is necessary to be an emotionally stable person and is also necessary for creating meaningful relationships. Self-awareness is being mindful of who you are and the emotions that you have. Self-regulation is being able to control your emotions so that you don’t behave irrationally when faced with strong emotional stimulates. Social awareness is being related well with others and empathize with them. Lastly, relations management is the ability to interact with others appropriately, taking into consideration their emotions and accommodating to them in order to foster stronger relationships. By continuously developing emotional intelligence we seek continuous improvement in ourselves as well as the relationships around us.

In today’s digital world, it is getting much more difficult to navigate digital media as it’s riddled with disinformation and misinformation.

By Dru Macasieb

February 22nd, 2019

In today’s digital world, it is getting much more difficult to navigate digital media as it’s riddled with disinformation and misinformation. Disinformation is information that deliberately false and misleading in order to confuse and distract the intended audience, while misinformation is information that is unintentionally inaccurate (CrashCourse, 2018). As life long learners, it is our responsibility to ensure the information we obtain and share is accurate and credible, as better information leads to better decision making, which leads to a better world. Below are the top 10 fact- and bais-checking websites from the International Society for Technology in Education.

AllSides. While not a fact-checking site, AllSides curates stories from right, center and left-leaning media so that readers can easily compare how bias influences reporting on each topic.

Fact Check. This nonpartisan, nonprofit project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by U.S. political players, including politicians, TV ads, debates, interviews and news releases.

Media Matters. This nonprofit and self-described liberal-leaning research center monitors and corrects conservative misinformation in the media.

NewsBusters. A project of the conservative Media Research Center, NewsBusters is focused on “documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias.”

Open Secrets. This nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit website run by the Center for Responsive Politics tracks how much and where candidates get their money.

Politifact. This Pulitzer Prize winning website rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials. Run by editors and reporters from the independent newspaper Tampa Bay Times, Politicfact features the Truth-O-Meter that rates statements as “True,” “Mostly True,” “Half True,” “False,” and “Pants on Fire.”

ProPublica. This independent, nonprofit newsroom has won several Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2016 Prize for Explanatory Reporting. ProPublica produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

Snopes. This independent, nonpartisan website run by professional researcher and writer David Mikkelson researches urban legends and other rumors. It is often the first to set the facts straight on wild fake news claims.

The Sunlight Foundation. This nonpartisan, nonprofit organization uses public policy data-based journalism to make politics more transparent and accountable.

Washington Post Fact Checker. Although the Washington Post has a left-center bias, its checks are excellent and sourced. The bias shows up because they fact check conservative claims more than liberal ones.

In looking back at 2018, I reminisced about that year by looking through photos and social media post. However, nothing truly brings me back to that year more than my journal does. I’ve noticed that photos, social media post, and even my own memory can play tricks on me. It can fool me into believing something that did not exist or it can misinterpret how the past was. By journalizing, it allows me to freely and openly express myself without holding back due to the fear of judgment of others; something that comes with social media post. Photos and videos tell a lot about something but do not encapsulate the privacy and reflective abilities a journal can do. The three main benefits to journalizing are self-reflection, self-awareness, and happiness.

Self-reflection is the ability to think about something in a purposeful way, with the intention of making connections, exploring options and creating new meaning (Ferrett, 2018). When difficult situations arise, we are better equipped to sort through the issues if we journalize and reflect at a later date than if we were to sort through the issues at the moment as our ability to rationally thought process maybe impede due to amygdala hi-jacking (heat of the moment thinking), or other variables that keep us from thinking clearly (like intoxication). By journalizing and reflecting at a future date, we are able to to see things more clearly, process and reflect on our reactions and thoughts, and problem-solve better. In the book, 52 Small Changes for the Mind by Brett Blumenthal (2015), the author says:

When misunderstandings or disagreements arise with others, journaling helps us reflect on other people’s perspectives and be more open to how they may be feeling or thinking. We become more intentional in our interpretations and better equipped to organize our thoughts so we can approach problems calmly and rationally. Journaling also encourages a free flow of thinking, which can tap into the more creative, intuitive right side of our brain to potentially reveal more innovative solutions. (p. 19)

Self-awareness is the ability to relate well to others, face the truth, and see yourself objectively (Ferrett, 2018). By journalizing, we become more self-aware of our emotions, especially the most difficult and painful ones. We are able to recognize the triggers that ignite our emotions and can plan ahead to better avoid emotions of anger and anxiety, or react to them better so that we can foster healthier relationships. Journalizing also helps identify who we are, our desires, passion, fears, as well as the things we need to change in order to improve ourselves. It will help increase our self-confidence and maintain a positive self-image.

Happiness is achieved when we lower our levels of stress (cortisol) to the point where our levels of joy (serotonin) and reward (dopamine) exceed them, naturally. By transferring our thoughts from our mind and into the physical world (through paper and pen the use of technology) we don’t let them bottle up inside ourselves, instead, they dissipate outside of us, which leaves us calmer, happier, and in more control. When we journalize the negative moments in our life, we release the anger and pain so that it doesn’t fester insider of us. We learn from them and become grateful for the present moment. When we journalize the positive moments in our life, we share the joy and happiness and it becomes proof that good things happen in our lives.

I encourage everyone to start journalizing their life in order to be able to better self-reflect, become self-aware, and be happier. Since journalizing is about you and only for you, there are no rules or restrictions, it is solely up to you. For instances, I journal using the built-in notes app on my phone. Any time where I feel like writing down a thought, a reminder, or an idea, I just go ahead and do it. I like it because the automatically keeps metadata on the entry I create such as a time stamps (date created, updated) and location. I can write as many entries as I want and can easily find them using dates or keywords. I can even add pictures and videos as well as hyperlinks. If you haven’t journalized, what’s stopping you? All I see are benefits to this activity. However, keep in mind privacy and security as a journal in the wrong hands may become damaging to you and others. Lastly, I will leave you with this last quote which reminds me of why I should journalize regularly:

If you’d don’t know where you are, you can’t get where you’re going.

Journalizing helps me understand where I’ve been, where I want to go, and where I am in my current life. Have you ever been lost on the way to your friend’s place? When you call them up and ask for directions, they’ll usually start with, “Where are you?” You can’t answer that if you don’t know where you are, however, if you had a map, directions, street names, and landmarks, you are able to better answer where you are. Similarly, journalizing helps us to reflect on our past experiences, become self-aware of our future expectations, and create a deeper understanding of who we are at moment.

Academic referencing is giving attribution (credit) to the sources of information one has used in written work, typically in an academic environment such as a college or university (“Referencing Styles & Academic Writing,” 2018). When someone does not adequately reference ideas that are from outside sources, this is called plagiarism, a form of cheating, which is usually in reference to academic works such as papers, essays, or reports.

When a student plagiarizes, he or she is cheating. Plagiarism can be confusing as this term can be applied to anyone that not only does it on purpose, but also to anyone who does it accidentally (Francis, 2015).Students who plagiarize accidentally do so because they either do not know much about plagiarism or they just have sloppy work habits. For example, if you forget to put quotation marks around a sentence you pulled directly, word-for-word from a source, you are accidentally plagiarizing, but plagiarizing nonetheless.

References:

Francis, B. (2015).Are you misusing other people’s words? What plagiarism is and how to avoid it. Berkeley Heights, NJ. Enslow Publishers.

According to the Future Workforce Report, millennials want to change the world through technology. Despite a reputation for being lazy, less productive and noncommittal to their employers, surveys and research have revealed that millennials actually are driven and motivated by a number of things, including wanting roles that offer purpose and the opportunity to change their personal and professional environment (York, 2017).

Technology has become completely unified into the everyday life of millennials. They no longer ask for sufficient technology at their jobs; they expect it. Often, this expectancy has been painted as an entitlement, but what millennial workers really want are the tools they need to do their job efficiently. For instance, millennials in office position expect the entire suite of MS Office, some applications that deal with managing PDFs, online signatures, scanning, and other office specific applications.

With this tech-dependent generation about to represent more than half of the global workforce, organizations are looking for cutting-edge tools to meet their employees’ needs. One of the most essential needs of this generation is personal and career development through learning programs (York, 2017). In a nutshell, personal and career development through online learning programs such as massive open online courses (MOOCs) and learning platforms such as Lynda, and YouTube are changing the way we learn and train.

The workforce is transforming fast and so are the needs of today’s high-potential employees. In this era of quickly changing technology, it is important to understand how technology has become an integral part of millennials’ goals to impact and change the world. This means we need to equip people with a specific set of computer skills in order for them to understand, navigate, and use technology to their advantage.

Now the question for you is what specific computer/technology skills do you think is necessary for thriving in today’s competitive environment?

Computer skills are essential in today’s work environment. According to the Vice President of Channel Sales at Quickstat, Shamsah Malik (2018), having technical skills such as the ability to use popular office applications and be able to navigate the internet is what recruiters look for in an ambitious candidate.This is why having certifications for MS Office is crucial for career success. It confirms to hiring managers that a candidate knows how to use a specific application or do a specific task versus experience alone, which is not as easy to confirm without demonstration.

Free will is not an illusion. Thinking it is an illusion is dangerous thinking that basically says that we are not responsible for our actions, thus providing an excuse to do whatever we want to do, with no consequences.